1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to caps to collapsible tubular dispensors, and in particular to caps to silicon squeeze tubes, in particular to caps that are able to inhibit the hardening of silicon paste within these tubes and are able to penetrate through any hardened silicon in these tubes to application of any unhardened silicon from these tubes.
2. Description of Prior Art
Collapsible squeeze tubes have become extremely popular containers and can be found in nearly all of the households throughout the world. Among the most common products stored in these types of squeeze tubes are toothpaste, various other beauty aids and many household adhesives. These collapsible squeeze tubes all share the common advantages of providing a small and convenient amount of the product stored in a convenient dispensing apparatus, as well as, they all share the same common problem of the product stored within the squeeze tubes drying up if the cap is not securely returned to the mouth of the squeeze tube. Access of the non-dried useable portions of the unused products remaining in these squeeze tubes when these tubes get blocked by the dried product itself is usually achieved by squeezing hard on the tube itself to push the blocked material away or by gouging into the blocked material to either physically removing the hardened block or to poking a hole through the hardened block to provide a fluid exit pathway for the unused paste product. This problem is further aggravated with pastes that contain highly volatile solvents that evaporate readily when the squeeze tube is left open. In particular silicon paste adhesive stored in these convenient squeeze tubes often suffers in wasting the stored silicon within the squeeze tubes because the silicon paste adhesive rapidly hardens at the mouth and deep within the silicon squeeze tube. As a result of this relatively rapid hardening of silicon paste into a hardened silicon solids within these squeeze tubes, the household user ends up using these silicon adhesive squeeze tubes for only a single occasion because the resulting hardened silicon solids block the mouth of the squeeze tubes and thus wasting the remaining unused silicon held deep within the silicon squeeze tube.
The common practice of inserting a nail into the mouth of these silicon squeeze tubes has been a successful tactic in preventing clogs in the silicon tubes but the practice of using nails as sealing devices for these tubes has a number of undesirable features. In particular, one of the major disadvantages in using nails to seal silicon squeeze tubes is that nails lack a substantial head for griping and thus the user is prone to being exposing to the silicon adhesive paste oozing over the nail head and contacting the user""s epidermis. In addition because nails have a narrow head, the user is likely to have an insufficient grip in manipulating the nail while the nail spear is penetrated within the silicon adhesive paste.
The nozzle perforated cap for collapsible tubes as disclosed by Ferris in U.S. Pat. No. 3,109,562 provides a cap or a cover having a sharp point or spur mounted in the interior surface of the cap wherein the tip of the discharge nozzle of the collapsible tube may be both perforated a safety seal at the mouth of the tube as well as providing a sealing position. However, the Ferris disclosure would not be able to adequately break the blockage brought about by the anticipated hardened silicon solids experienced by incorrectly securing the cap or inadvertantly leaving the cap off.
The container opener disclosed by Ogawa and Hirono in U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,152 provides a sharp member capable of making a relatively small pinhole in the closed end portion of a nozzle of a tube containing low viscosity liquid adhesives, such as ∀-cyanoacrylate. By providing a pin within the cap, Ogawa and Hirono were able to succeed in making a safer opener for these low viscosity toxic adhesives, whereby preventing unwanted spillage onto the person opening these containers. However, the Ogawa and Hirono disclosure would be totally inadequate for use in high viscosity adhesives, such as silica paste adhesives, because an opening the size of a pinhole would not only likely to immediately clog but it would certainly be unable to deliver adequate amounts of silicon through the pinhole. Furthermore, the Ogawa and Hirono disclosure is silent with regards to the problem of clogs created by hardened silicon solids at and deep beyond the mouth of a squeeze tube nor do they address the problem of unclogging a hardened solid substantially beyond the mouth of the tube and deeper within the squeeze tube.
The cap disclosed by Miller in U.S. Pat. No. 1,909,209, as well as, the cap disclosed by Court in U.S. Pat. No. 2,365,524, and the cap disclosed by Oka in U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,098 all provide a disclosure of a relatively short axial conical projection, lacking any elongated stem, placed within the inside of a cap that serves not only as a puncturing device for the seal but also as a removable closure device for the puncture which it makes. However, the disclosures of Miller, Court and Oka are silent with regards to unclogging blocked openings once they do form and are silent with regards to unclogging passages and are likely to fail unclogging hardened blockages at the mouth of a dispensing tube. Furthermore, the Miller, Court and Oka disclosures are totally silent with regards on unclogging relatively deep blockages beyond the mere surface of the mouth of the tube.
The closure-penetrating support for a bottle disclosed by Sullivan in U.S. Pat. No. D-280,692 discloses only the ornamental design of a closure penetrating support for a water bottle and would be inadequate for preventing a clog from occurring because of the cap has substantial holes built within it and thus would be inadequate as a sealing device.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of cap appartus now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a puncture and seal cap apparatus wherein the same includes a knurled knob member secured to an associated elongated spike structure to effect puncturing any seal placed on the mouth of the silicon squeeze tube, as well as, seal silicon squeeze tubes so that they do not be clogged by either preventing evaporation of the solvent in the silicon paste adhesive or by supplying a device to capable of gouging out any hardened silicon solids at or below the mouth of these silicon squeeze tubes.
To attain this, one preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a container closure apparatus to be used in combination with a commercially available silicon dispensing squeeze tube for inhibiting any unused silicon adhesive paste held within the squeeze tube from becoming unwanted hardened silicon solids trapped within the mouth or nozzle of the squeeze tube and for penetrating the unwanted hardened silicon solids trapped within the squeeze tube to allow a fluid exit pathway for the unused silicon adhesive paste held within the squeeze tube while preventing unwanted exposure of any of the unused silicon adhesive paste to a user""s epidermis, thereby creating a safe and effective device for saving the unused silicon adhesive paste, the container closure apparatus comprising: a knurled cap, having a generally flat top and a generally flat bottom, an inner wall, and an outer wall, the knurled cap outer wall comprising three generally octagonally shaped polygons horizontally stacked and fused together, wherein each of the generally octagonally shaped polygons having alternating substantially flattened edges followed by generally rounded edges, wherein the three generally octagonally shaped polygons of the knurled cap outer wall are horizontally stacked in a manner where the vertexes of each of the polygon shifted approximately twenty two and one-half degrees, relative to the alignment of the vertexes of the adjacent horizontally stacked polygon, wherein the knurled cap is capable of providing the user a sufficient griping means to push-in, to pull-out and to twist-in a portion of the container closure apparatus into the unused silicon adhesive paste held in the squeeze tube without exposing any of the unused silicon adhesive paste to the user""s epidermis, wherein the knurled cap is capable of providing the user the sufficient griping means to push-in, to pull-out and to twist in a portion of the unwanted hardened silicon solids within the squeeze tube, and the knurled cap inner wall comprising a lower portion of the inner wall being substantially cylindrical for providing a tight fit over a the squeeze tube mouth and a portion of the squeeze tube nozzle, wherein the bottom end of the knurled cap is capable of being placed substantially flush with the squeeze tube mouth to aid in minimizing the unwanted hardened silicon solids from forming within the squeeze tube whereby inhibiting the hardening of the unused silicon adhesive paste by reducing the evaporation rate and subsequent escape of the supporting solvent in the commercial silicon adhesive paste from the squeeze tube; wherein the inside wall is threaded to fit the threaded portion of the threads of the squeeze tube nozzle, whereby twisting the knurled cap over the squeeze tube mouth and nozzle provides the tight fit whereby inhibiting the hardening of the unused silicon adhesive paste by reducing the evaporation rate and subsequent escape of the supporting solvent in the commercial silicon adhesive paste from the squeeze tube; and an elongated spike having a generally blunt end, a generally conical shaped pointed end and a generally cylindrical collar, the elongated spike is coaxially attached at the blunt end of the spike at approximately the center of the knurled cap bottom, whereby the vertical axis of the knurled cap is substantially in line with the vertical axis of the spike, wherein the generally conical shaped pointed end and the generally cylindrical collar of the spike are capable of being pushed-in, pulled-out and twisted-in through the squeeze tube mouth and nozzle into the unused silicon adhesive paste in the squeeze tube in order to minimize the unwanted harden silicon solids from forming within the squeeze tube by occupying a substantial portion of the volume in the squeeze tube mouth and nozzle whereby inhibiting the hardening of the unused silicon adhesive paste by reducing the evaporation rate and subsequent escape of the supporting solvent in the unused silicon adhesive paste from the squeeze tube, and wherein the generally conical shaped pointed end and the generally cylindrical collar of the spike are capable being pushed-in, pulled-out and twisted-in through the squeeze tube mouth and nozzle and into the unwanted hardened silicon solids trapped within the squeeze tube in order to create the fluid exit pathway through the unwanted hardened silicon solids within the squeeze tube so that the unused silicon adhesive paste in the squeeze tube may be dispensed through the fluid exit pathway and out through the mouth of the squeeze tube to any desired location chosen by the user.
To attain this, another preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a container closure apparatus to be used in combination with a commercially available silicon dispensing squeeze tube for inhibiting any unused silicon adhesive paste held within the squeeze tube from becoming unwanted hardened silicon solids trapped within the squeeze tube and for penetrating the unwanted hardened silicon solids trapped within the squeeze tube to allow a fluid exit pathway for the unused silicon adhesive paste held within the squeeze tube while preventing exposure of any of the unused silicon adhesive paste to a user""s epidermis, thereby creating a safe and effective device for saving the unused silicon adhesive paste, the container closure apparatus comprising: a knurled knob, having a generally flat top and a generally flat bottom, comprising three generally octagonally shaped plates horizontally stacked and fused together, wherein each of the generally octagonally shaped plates having alternating substantially flattened edges followed by generally rounded edges, wherein the knurled knob is capable of allowing a user a sufficient griping means to push-in, to pull-out and to twist-in a portion of the container closure apparatus into the unused silicon adhesive paste held in the squeeze tube without exposing any of the unused silicon adhesive paste to the user""s epidermis, wherein the knurled knob is capable of allowing the user the sufficient griping means to push-in, to pull-out and to twist in a portion of the unwanted hardened silicon solids within the squeeze tube, and wherein the bottom end of the knurled knob is capable of being placed substantially flush with the mouth of the squeeze tube to aid in minimizing the unwanted hardened silicon solids within the squeeze tube by inhibiting evaporation of the supporting solvent in the unused silicon adhesive paste within the squeeze tube; and an elongated spike having a generally blunt end, a generally conical shaped pointed end and a generally cylindrical collar, coaxially attached at the blunt end of the spike to approximately the center of the knurled knob bottom, whereby the vertical axis of the knurled knob is substantially in line with the vertical axis of the spike, wherein the generally conical shaped pointed end and the generally cylindrical collar of the spike are capable of being pushed-in, pulled-out and twisted-in through the mouth of the squeeze tube into the unused silicon adhesive paste in the squeeze tube in order to minimize the unwanted harden silicon solids from forming within the squeeze tube by occupying a substantial portion of the volume in the squeeze tube mouth and nozzle whereby inhibiting the hardening of the unused silicon adhesive paste by reducing the evaporation and subsequent escape of the supporting solvent in the unused silicon adhesive paste, and wherein the generally conical shaped pointed end and the generally cylindrical collar of the spike are capable being pushed-in, pulled-out and twisted-in through the mouth of the squeeze tube and into the unwanted hardened silicon solids trapped within the squeeze tube in order to create the fluid exit pathway through the unwanted hardened silicon solids within the squeeze tube so that the unused silicon adhesive paste in the squeeze tube may be dispensed through the fluid exit pathway and out through the mouth of the squeeze tube to any desired location chosen by the user.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, not is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
Accordingly, one of the advantages of this present invention are that it provides a squeeze tube containing silicon adhesive paste a cap with a means of preventing unwanted hardened silicon solids trapped within a squeeze tube which subsequently prevents access of using the remaining silicon paste adhesive in the squeeze tube and thus saving silicon.
Also a further advantage of this present invention is provides a means of penetrating the unwanted hardened silicon at or near the mouth of the squeeze tube so that a fluid exit pathway can be created which would allow a significant portion of the remaining silicon paste adhesive to be expelled through the mouth of the squeeze tube.
Still a further advantage of this present invention is that it provides a means for griping a spike into the unused silicon adhesive paste held within a squeeze tube without exposing the user to the direct contact of the unused silicon adhesive paste onto the users epidermis.
Yet an even further advantage of this present invention is that it provides a means for manipulating the spike portion of the cap by allowing a user to easily grip the knurled knob so that the spike may be conveniently controlled when prying out any unwanted silicon solids trapped near the squeeze tube mouth or stabbing a hole through the unwanted silicon solids so that the remaining silicon paste can be accessed without directly contacting the unused silicon adhesive paste onto the users epidermis.